Purchase Officials Protest Mississippi's New Anti-Gay Law

Mississippi became Tuesday the latest state to enact a "religious freedom" bill, and officials at Purchase College in Harrison responded by announcing they will not attend the opening reception of their own art exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

The law thrusts Mississippi to the forefront of a debate over civil liberties and religious protections. It provides sweeping protections to people who hold a "sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction," specifically on marriage and gender, allowing them, among other things, to fire, deny housing and refuse to serve people who don't.

The Neuberger's traveling exhibition 'When Modern Was Contemporary: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection' is to open at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

"This exhibition reflects the ways in which our founding patron, Roy R. Neuberger, supported living artists irrespective of their backgrounds and beliefs, and valued open dialogue through a mix of ideas – even those that were controversial and unpopular, an approach that is in opposition to Mississippi’s new, sweeping, discriminatory anti-gay and transgender legislation," said Dr. Tracy Fitzpatrick, Director of the museum.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed an executive order Tuesday banning all non-essential state travel to Mississippi.

North Carolina has come under serious fire for passing a similar bill. New York was among several states and large cities across the country have banned public travel to the state. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a similar bill in his state last week amid fears of losing business deals and major events like the Super Bowl.

Fitzpatrick and Thomas J. Schwarz, President of Purchase College, SUNY, issued the following statement Tuesday evening about the exhibition:

Dr. Tracy Fitzpatrick: At the Neuberger Museum of Art, we are delighted that the residents of Mississippi will be afforded the extraordinary opportunity to view works by some of America’s most important 20th century artists from our collection in When Modern Was Contemporary: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection. This exhibition reflects the ways in which our founding patron, Roy R. Neuberger, supported living artists irrespective of their backgrounds and beliefs, and valued open dialogue through a mix of ideas – even those that were controversial and unpopular, an approach that is in opposition to Mississippi’s new, sweeping, discriminatory anti-gay and transgender legislation.

As an academic art museum our role is to educate diverse audiences in and through the visual arts by presenting a variety of media and cultural perspectives, and works by artists from diverse backgrounds and convictions. While I hope that the presence of the works by such a diverse group of artists in When Modern Was Contemporary will help create dialogue around these issues, in view of Mississippi’s new discriminatory law it is with great regret that I must decline the Mississippi Museum of Art’s kind invitation to celebrate with them on the occasion of the opening of the Neuberger exhibition.

In keeping with its values, the Neuberger Museum hopes that its newly opened exhibition, Louise Fishman: A Retrospective, will also contribute to this dialogue in a meaningful way. The exhibition is the first career survey of this important American artist who has long fought for the meaningful recognition that we believe has eluded her and many women artists because of sexism and anti-gay bias. Hopefully, both the Louise Fishman exhibition and When Modern Was Contemporary will stimulate comment and thoughtful dialogue as many in the nation struggle to achieve a greater climate of acceptance and equality. Many of the programs associated with the Louise Fishman exhibition will focus on LGBTQ issues.

Purchase College President, Thomas J. Schwarz:

Purchase College, as an inclusive and diverse community, stands with Governor Cuomo, the American Association of Museum Directors, and the American Association of Academic Art Museums and Galleries, in denouncing this law. We strongly support Dr. Fitzpatrick’s decision to stay in New York rather than attend the opening exhibition festivities in Mississippi, as regularly scheduled. This law is a step back in time, out of keeping with the values of Purchase College or the Museum.

The Mississippi bill, which you can view here, specifically defines three "sincerely held religious beliefs" protected under the soon-to-be law:

1. Marriage is between one man and one woman.
2. "Sexual relations" should be restricted to marriage.
3. "Male" and "female" are defined by biological sex at birth.

Cuomo's new order requires all New York State agencies, departments, boards and commissions to immediately review all requests for state funded or state sponsored travel to the state of Mississippi, and bar any such publicly funded travel that is not essential to the enforcement of state law or public health and safety.

“Discrimination is not a New York value. We believe our diversity is our greatest strength, and we will continue to reject the politics of division and exclusion,” Cuomo said in his statement. “This Mississippi law is a sad, hateful injustice against the LGBT community, and I will not allow any non-essential official travel to that state until it is repealed.”

Patch staffer Marc Torrence contributed to this report.

PHOTO: Neuberger Museum of Art/By Kelly Campbell, Sandy Dylak, Roberto DeOliveira, Steven Ferry, David Grimaldi, Imani Humphries, Kristi McKee, Jared Pereira, Zoe Markwalter (Purchase College) via Wikimedia Commons